December, 2013

Rank

December 21, 2013 What’s going on in murky North Korea? I’ll bet even the US National Security Agency doesn’t know. The world was shocked last week to learn that North Korea’s boyish dynastic leader, Kim Jong-un, has ordered the public arrest, then swift execution of his uncle by marriage, Jang […]

December 14, 2013 The “Black Jesus.” That’s what the late Nelson Mandela was called by many South Africans, who greeted his death last week with intense national mourning. Mandela was a great man, and great leader. But he was no Jesus. I rather call him “mahatma,” meaning great spirit, the […]

December 7, 2013 Those wondering what lies in store for Afghanistan need only look at the way the British Empire ruled Iraq in the 1920’s. As Shakespeare wrote, “what is past is prologue.” Imperial Britain created the state of Iraq after World War I to secure Mesopotamia’s vast oil deposits […]